Six Habits of Highly Successful Metro Detroit Entrepreneurs

New Years resolutions are so last month. That means what was once unbridled optimism in January starts to become jaded reality in February. 

 

So to keep us working toward establishing better habits in 2014, here are half a dozen good habits that helped local entrepreneurs stay successful.

 

 

Kalyan Handique lives by the golden rule of treating others as he would like to be treated. And it's turned out to be quite profitable for him.

 

The successful new economy entrepreneur makes it a point to go out of his way to help people when he can. Not as a way stack up favors with his professional peer group or as a way to tip the karma scales in his favor. Think of it as good things happen to good people.

 

"You have to be really helpful to other people," Handique says. "When you take on new work you never know who you will need to help."

 

Handique is the co-founder and CTO of HandyLab, an bio-tech startup based in Ann Arbor that was acquired by BD in 2009 for $275 million. He is now the CEO of DeNovo Sciences, a Plymouth-based life sciences startup that won the top prize in the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition in 2011. 

 

But when Handique talks about helping out others he means people who aren't directly involved in his business dealings. That could mean other adults at his kid's school or employees at his startup or mentoring at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. In one case, angel investors called former employees at HandyLab as part of their due diligence before making an investment. 

 

"They had talked to past employees of mine and they heard I am a good leader," Handique says. "If you treat people right it will come back to you when you need it."

 

 

Lots of entrepreneurs like to use exercise as a muse to help run a tight ship. Normally that means jogging, running marathons or competing in triathlons. Jen Baird likes to ride horses.

 

Baird is a well-known quantity in Ann Arbor executive circles. She served as CEO of Accuri Cytometers for most of the startup's life, building the bulk of the Ann Arbor-based bio-tech firm into a prime acquisition target. BD bought Accuri Cytometers for more than $200 million in 2011. Baird is now reinventing wind energy generation with her venture-backed startup, Accio Energy.

 

To help build Accio Energy, Baird has lost 25 percent of her body weight in recent years. Her love of horseback riding made that possible.

 

"It's great exercise," Baird says. "It also requires enough concentration that I disconnect from the pressures at work."

 

Baird owns two horses and rides them 5-6 days a week. She loves it because her horses are always happy to see her and go for a ride. She adds that they serve as great mirrors of her state of mind, so it allows her to take a hard look at herself. 

 

And then there is the physical activity that comes with horseback riding. Even though the beast is doing a majority of the work during the outing, a rider breaks a sweat. Between that, eating right and working out regularly on a elliptical machine, Baird is living a much healthier lifestyle and running a better business.

 

"It's amazing how much more effective you can be when you're not carrying an extra 50 pounds on your back," Baird says.

 

 

Organized. That's the way Stewart Beal like to describe himself. The Ypsilanti-based developer is organized in his professional life and in his personal life. He has even found way to organize the life of his newborn child.

 

"I am extremely organized in everything I do," Beal says. "I like everything really planned. I work seven days a week but if I am not working on Sunday, I want that Sunday planned out."

 

Beal is a relatively new husband and a new father. He has a 13-month-old daughter and has found a way to put his family life into a basic routine so even the whims of a toddler follow a schedule. He puts aside regular time to spend with his new family, with his construction and property-development business and even hanging out with his friends. Beal and his tight group of friends all go back and forth on one email list, which can be pretty predictable.

 

Beal does cop to one spontaneous thing in his life, TV. He will stay up late watching TV until he unwinds. "I binge watch Netflix like everyone else, but I do it late at night." 

 

 

While many entrepreneurs pride themselves on their organizational skills, Matt Wise likes to brag about the results he gets from bringing a little chaos into his company.

 

"You can call it controlled chaos," Wise says.

 

Wise is the CEO of HelloWorld, formerly ePrize. The Pleasant Ridge-based digital branding firm went from garage startup to employer of hundreds in a little more than a decade. Wise was brought on as CEO a few years ago to help grow the firm to second-stage status. Part of what makes that possible is adding a little bit of chaos to and otherwise highly structured organization.

 

"It allows you to focus on what is important to organize," Wise says.

 

He explains it's good to break rules every so often to see things differently and generate new ideas. That helps the company break down the traditional way of doing things when it needs to make the switch to best way of doing things.

 

"Sales results and statistics are just like a deck of cards," Wise says. "You can spin it a different way every so often and see different results."

 

 

Larry Freed recently stepped down as the CEO of ForeSee Results, a few weeks after the Ann Arbor-based market research startup was acquired by Answers Corp for $200 million. He spent the better part of a dozen years building the company into a top acquisition target.

 

Freed credits striking a fair work/life balanced between his business and his family as a key to making ForeSee Results a success. The key to accomplishing that work/life balance, being open and honest with his family.

 

"If your family can see your passion for it and your drive to succeed, it's easier for them to embrace it," Freed says.

 

Freed has three boys, ages 16, 20 and 23 years old. Finding the best way to help them grow up and grow his company meant Freed had to find the best way to go to ball games, be there for his kids and even take time out to play games of golf with his friends to keep his sanity intact.

 

 

While figuring out work/life balance is something entrepreneurs struggle with every day, some take the cold-turkey route. For Sandy Kronenberg that means turning work off and checking out from time to time.

 

Kronenberg, a University of Michigan graduate, is the founder of Netarx, an IT services firm. Kronenberg grew the Auburn Hills-based company to a couple hundred employees and an acquisition by Logicallis for $34 million in 2011. He is now a partner in downtown Detroit-based Ludlow Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in early stage investment in tech startups. He is also the principal of Locqus, a M@dison Building-based mobile app startup.

 

For Kronenberg, a major part of that success was his ability to turn off the business side of his life. That means when a certain hour of the day comes around, his work phone and laptop shut down. When he goes on vacation, those gadgets stay at home. When it's time to focus on family life, his work life turns off.

 

"You have to be able to turn off or you will go mad," Kronenberg says. "It's impossible to constantly be noodling on every aspect of the business."

 

Shutting the door on work also opens other doors. Kronenberg likes to use that time to not only spend on his family but also to clear his head and think on other subjects. That allows him to think about new ideas, and every once in a while those ideas help him build a better business.

 

"That sort of stuff is what is best for the creative juices and being an entrepreneur," Kronenberg says.